Finn (bxb)

2. The Great English Project

It was the next day, and I was trying not to fall asleep on my feet. Somehow, the more hours of sleep I got, the sleepier I felt in class. Weird.

I greeted my friends, grabbed my books and got to English class. I sat down at my usual seat, towards a corner in the back. I could do pretty much whatever and the teacher wouldn't even notice. No one bothered me either, I liked the silence. It let me sleep in peace.

Our new teacher, Miss Roberts, who I had never had before, came in bright and smiling. She looked gorgeous, and I'd heard she was in her late twenties. She gave a quick introduction before announcing a new project, which we would have to do in pairs.

Oh no.

I had no friends in this class, which meant I'd be paired with whoever was left. I really didn't want to be stuck with some potato who would make me do all the work.

Way to start a new school year.

I saw people quickly finding a friend to work with, and I was looking around to spot other loners, when I heard someone move behind me. I turned around to see a boy slightly taller than me, with the softest looking brown curls ever. Damn, I need to get some of that shampoo.

"Hey , I'm Ryan, would you like to work together?"

I mentally breathed a sigh of relief, he seemed like a decent guy. I nodded, but before we could discuss further, Roberts spoke up.

"Class, don't get all excited just yet. The nature of this project involves getting to know new people, so I will be the one partnering you up."

"Aw man." I heard Ryan say, and I had the same feeling. Great.

There was still a chance I'd get to work with him, since I didn't know him either. I waited while Roberts read off of her list, and soon enough, my name came up.

"Sebastian and..."

I held my breath.

"Finn."

What?

I looked around to see him leaning his chair backwards, seeming unbothered. I didn't even know he would be in this class.

I groaned. Out of all people, why him?

Roberts told us to sit with our partners, and I begrudgingly walked over to Cactus, since he didn't seem like he was gonna move anytime soon. I saw a bunch of girls crowded around his desk, which was no surprise. Hell, if he wasn't such an asshole I'd probably be trying to get a look at him too.

I smacked down my bag on the table next to his and sat down. He was slouched on his chair with his arms crossed and eyes closed. He opened one eye to look at me.

"Why are you here?" He said in an annoyed way.

Sheesh. Of course he wasn't paying attention. Figured.

"Partners."

He made a weird expression, before closing his eyes again and getting comfortable in his chair, probably to doze off.

"Hey, so your name's Finn?" One of the girls in front of us asked.

Silence.

I bit my lip and tried not to laugh. He was such an ass.

"Hey...?"

He continued to ignore her. I felt kind of bad for her until she saw me having the tiniest smile on my face and got mad.

"Fuck are you smiling for?"

I heard an annoyed mumble from next to me. "Jeez, can you shut up? "

She huffed and turned ahead. Oof. Well, at least he was a jerk to everyone and not just me.

I tuned back in to whatever Roberts was saying.

"This will be a year long project and every one of you must submit one assignment I give you, per week. Yes, yes, don't curse me out yet, I know it sounds like a lot, but it's not what you think it is."

Many students, including me, audibly groaned and complained but decided to hear her out.

"This is an English class, and I want you to use your words to express things, more than on just the surface level. You won't have 3000 word essays, you'll just have to learn how to communicate and put thoughts into beautiful, beautiful words."

Now I was just confused. This was the first time I had Roberts, and I wasn't quite used to her...unusual style. But oh well, didn't seem too bad.

"For your first assignment, I'll keep it quite simple. You need to write ten things about your partner. It could be anything, their hobbies, their family, their pets, anything. But you must talk to each other and observe things. Don't worry, I can spot a half assed work from a mile away. If it is so, I will make you redo it."

That's it? That really didn't seem so hard.

Until I remembered who my partner was. Oh god. Finding out *anything* about him was going to be a pain.

"Don't worry, it can be informal. You can choose to share your work with them, or keep it to yourself. I will not share your work unless you are fine with it."

This would be a great way to get to know a person. If the said person was anyone but Cactus. Ugh. I doubt he even heard her.

Roberts gave us the rest of the class as time to discuss.  I cast another look towards the half asleep Cactus, and lost even more hope. I wondered if I could manage to get away with writing a few vague things. I accidentally caught her eye, and she raised her eyebrows and gave me a knowing look, as though she could read my mind. Dammnit.

I gave his shoulder a poke. He didn't even feel it. I poked him again. He grumbled and got up and gave me an annoyed look. "What?"

I sighed. "Do you have any hobbies?"

He gave me a look before going back to sleep. At this rate, I could already see the giant red F staring at me. Greaaat. 

I was not going to let that happen. I poked him again, more aggressively, hoping to get a message across. 

He got up suddenly and glared at me. "What?"

I gathered up all my courage and put on a brave face, even though his glare scared me a tiny bit. 

"Are you free this evening? We could start on this week's assignment."

He wasn't even bothering to look at me. 

"Busy."

"Maybe we could meet after that? It would be alright if it is late too, since we live right next to each other. What are you busy with, if you don't mind?"

"None of your business."

I was so done with him. Screw this guy.